Year 2013 was kind of a butt. No, it was a really big, smelly, unwiped butt full of butt things that pretty much started and ended with my really terrible job taking phone calls for an employer that provides third-party customer service for a number of gigantic multinational corporations who don’t want to bother to provide it themselves. My particular client was a provider of telephonically-based communication packages (yes, I am unsuccessfully attempting to be obtuse) and it was… not fun. Everyone in customer service will be nodding your heads when I say that the best and worst thing about working in customer service is… working in customer service. That is why there are places like Not Always Right and my new favorite, How May We Hate You? It was an awful, soul-sucking, hellacious job where I had a different schedule every week, got paid utter crap to be cursed and yelled at about a lot of things I had no control over and couldn’t fix, and in which my entire value as an employee – and my paycheck – was based on how customers answered three survey questions.

(As an aside, yes, those customer satisfaction survey things affect something. The pay and/or job of the person you interacted with. If you hate the company but loved the person you worked with, but you fill out the survey based on your feelings about the company and not the employee, I promise you that the company’s feelings are not hurt but you probably cost the employee you liked so much some money. After all, as my bosses told me continuously, it is my job to change your mind about the company.)

Kia’s Brain: They are not here to listen to you whine. They are here for the baby dinosaur.

Kia: I know, but I feel it’s important to give context for my very extended absence. Unrelenting anxiety and depression will shut anybody up.

Kia’s Brain: Then less whining, more context. Get to the point.

Kia: /glare

The point is that if you at all doubt whether your employment can affect your mental health, doubt no more. It can, most assuredly. I was in the deepest depressive cycle I have been in for awhile. Fortunately, in December I was hired for a job that I am loving, that has a regular-people daylight-hours schedule, pays me a lot better, and lets me use not only my brain but also the business degree which I will never be done paying for, I swear. Which brought me far enough out of my depression that I thought, “WHY NOT REVIVE THE SISTERHOOD?! LONG LIVE THE SISTERHOOD!” And then I gave Amber the opportunity to stop me and instead she said “YES DO IT” because she too is a butt and so here we are.

A word to my friends who are struggling with terrible terrible jobs or unemployment: it is INCREDIBLY hard and I understand. It takes all the life, all the creativity and joy and passion out of you. It may take a LONG time to get better. Know that you are surrounded on Teh Interwebs by people who care for you and that there are people who are willing to provide an ear and/or a shoulder anytime you need it. Count me as one of them! I am cheering you on!

Kia’s Brain: YOU SAID THIS WOULD BE ABOUT A BABY DINOSAUR.

Kia: I AM GETTING THERE.

However, not ALL of 2013 was the Worst Thing That Ever Happened To Anybody EVER. Two wonderful, if inequally-happiness-inducing events occurred. FIRST, Achloryn and I adopted our amazing cat Sir Percival the Ginger and every day we wonder how we ever got along without him. His godmother Elfindale is responsible for his name. LOOKIT HE’S SO CUTE:

SPEAKING OF ACHLORYN, by far the best thing that happened to me in 2013 (indeed, pretty much “so far in my life”) happened on July 26, 2013:

Achloryn and I got married! I should put up more wedding pictures. Maybe one day I will. Many thanks to all of you who came to our WoW Wedding and celebrated with us. We loved having you as part of our big day. For the mildly curious, being married is totally awesome and you should all get married someday, all of you. Unless you’re not into that kind of thing, in which case, don’t.

For the extremely nosy, since both our mothers have hinted at it, we are not now nor are we ever planning to spawn, because children are terrifying small persons that are easily broken and cause a great deal of noise and distress, so that’s the end of that discussion.

So while this will continue to be primarily a WoW blog, I’m thinking this time around I’ll probably branch out a bit more, since I am a gamer now. I never called myself that before, because I pretty much only played WoW and I was of the opinion that someone who only plays one game is not a gamer, but the other night Achloryn and I tallied it up and determined that I had played seven games this year for extended periods of time, including another MMO. Ergo, I must be a gamer. That is very weird, but this is my life. It’s kind of awesome.

Kia’s Brain: See what we have here is a distinct lack of any baby dinosaurs.

Kia: Yes, well, there was a lot to cover. I was getting there.

Kia’s Brain: And instead you rambled on for almost 900 words without getting anywhere close to it.

Kia: I figure at this point, it’s probably better to wait for the next post to talk about the Lashtail Hatchling and its tremendous ability to cause joy and pain.

Kia’s Brain: It’s not just the hatchling who has the ability to cause joy and pain. I’m in charge of several key centers in you—–

/static

/yelping

/several crashes

HERE! HERE! HAVE A BABY DINOSAUR! JUST LIKE I PRO-O-O-O-MISSSSS-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH